Manufacture of welted footwear



P 1938- F. HOLLAND- 2,131,375

MANUFACTURE OF WELTED FOOTWEAR Filed March 24, 1936 vim!" Hil a I L [r 0 L I INVE-NTORL 5 M W 1 BY r i I Q /10 3v 4 V I V ATTRNEY Patented Sept. 27, 1938 Friedrich Holland, Brcckton, Mass., assignorto Compo Shoe Machinery Corporation,

New 1 V York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application March 24, '1936, Serial No. 70,559

This invention relates to the manufacture of footwear.

General objects of the invention are to provide improved methods for use in themaking of shoes, and to provide shoes having improved structural characteristics. In the copending application of Henry B. Gorman, Serial No. 38,685, filed August 31, 1935, there is disclosed a method of making shoes whereby outsole materials particularly those such as loose or poorly fibered leather, compositions, rubber, and the like, which ordinarily are not amenable to secure cement bonding to an upper, can be firmly attached bya cementing op- 15 eration. In accordance with a-preferred embodiment of the Gorman invention, this is done by fastening a cementa ble fabric strip along the margin of an outsole through the agency of a welt which is stitched to the outsole and towhich the fabric strip is attached. The latter is then cemented to the bottom of a lasted upper, thus securing the outsole and upper together;

Particular objects of the present invention are to provide a shoe and method of making the same in accordance with the above described Gorman invention, but having certain modifications and improvements in the construction and assembly of the fabric fastening strip, the welt and the outsole.

Further objects are to provide an improved method of attaching outs-oles to lasted uppers and to provide an improved shoe bottom unit adapted for cement attachment to such uppers.

Other objects of the invention will inpartbe obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and the relation of one or more of such steps with respect toeach of the others, and the article possessing the features, properties, and the relation of elements, which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and

the scope of the invention" will be indicated in the claims. 1 v

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in

which: 1 Fig. 1 is a plan view' of a shoe bottom unit embodying features of the present invention, shown during a stage of its assembly and certain parts being broken away better toillustrate the construction; l r l Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical view taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1; a a

5 class. (01.12 142) Fig. 3 is a plan view corresponding to Fig. 1 showinga complete shoe'bo-ttom unit adapted for attachment to a lasted v upper;

Fig.'4- 'is atransverse vertical sectional view corresponding to line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig: 5' is a fragmentary transverse vertical sectional' view taken across the forepart of a completed shoe constructed in accordance with this invention; I

, Fig. 6 is afragmentaryperspective view of a split welt provided and employed in the present invention;

Figs. 7; 8 and 9 are fragmentary perspective views showing other forms of the invention. Referring more particularly to thedrawing, and first to Figs. 1,2 and 6, there is provided a rounded outsole In which is adapted for subsequent cement attachment to the bottom of a lasted upper. The means for effecting this attachment includes a welt l I which is split transverselyfat' l2 from. its inner edge toward but not -entirely to its outer edge; The welt is thus dividedinto upper and lower flaps, and in order that. thesemay have sufficient strength, the initial welt strip "is preferably rather thick, being on' the order of 5 or 6 irons in a fairly loose fibered and readily splittable leather. In the form'shown'in Fig. 1 the width of the welt,.is' preferably' on the order of orsomewhat more, and the depth of the slit I2 is preferably around /4] 5 V ;A- cementable fabric fastening strip I3 of strongly woven cotton or other suitable material, is provided, and has" its outer margin inserted in the sIit-"I'Z and temporarily'fastened therein by 1 means of adhesive, such as a rubber cement which is applied on both the upper and lower flaps'of the welt-. This fabric strip is about A" or more in width, so that a freely exposed fabric surface-extends inwardly or more from the welt. This welt unit comprising the welt H and temporarily attached fabric strip 13 is positioned along the *mar g i'n of the outsole, and may be temporarilylocated thereon by means of rubber cement prio-r' to' the stitching operation about to be described. As illustrated, this-welt extends fromthefheel breast line entirely around the forepart ofthe shoe and back tothe 'heel breast line'jalthough it may be extended entirely around the heel if cement bonding'at this portion of the shoe is desired. 'The welt and outsole are then permanently fastened by "means of-a row of stitching M which passes through the outer margin of the fabric strip and securely assem -bls'-the-welt, the fabric strip and the outsole in a single stitching operation. The stitching I4 is illustrated as going through and through these parts to the bottom of the outsole but the outsole may be conventionally channel-ed at its grain side to conceal the stitching, if preferred.

A filler I5, preferably in the form of a single dinked piece of flexible material such as a felted fiber mat, is positioned on the flesh side of the outsole within the welt and beneath the inwardly extending portion of the fabric strip. This filler is suificiently thick to support the fabric strip up against the bottom lasting allowance of an upper, and preferably holds it up as high or even a bit higher than the upper surface of the welt. The strip I3 is provided with notches I6 at the toe and other sharply angled portions to enable it to lie smoothly against the upper surface of filler l5. Cement is applied to the under side of such strip at I! and strip is then pressed down and adhered to the filler. Preferably, its upper surface is then roughed, since with fabrics as well as with leather it has been foundthat roughing increases the strength of cemented bond. If the welt does not extend around the entire heel, it may next be butted. The shoe bottom unit is then preferably flexed by running it through a Ziegler fiexer.

- This operation usually serves to compress the welt somewhat so that its ultimate thickness is on the order of 4 irons in a mans shoe where the above described relatively soft 5 or 6 iron stock was imtially used. It is also preferable to mold the shank portion of the outsole to facilitate the subsequent cement afiixing operation. The roughed exposed upper surface of the fabric strip I3 is coated with a strong adhesive such as pyroxylin cement, preferably just before this molding operation, and such cement may be allowed to dry. The shoe bottom thus formed is ready for attachment to the bottom of a lasted upper.

This upper may be of any suitable form. Preferably, it comprises an upper 2| having its overturned lasting allowance I8 in flat overlying relation with an insole I9 to which it may be attached by means of cement, stitches, staples or the like. If desired or needed, additional filler material 20 may be inserted in the recess of the forepart of the upper within the inner edges of its lasting allowance. It will be understood that in the present illustrative drawing, the proportions of the various shoe parts are exaggerated for the sake of clearness and that the spaces indicated as being occupied by fillers I5 and 20 in actual practice are not so large as they appear to be in the drawing, and that in some instances, use of the filler piece 20 will be found to be unnecessary, particularly if the filler I5 is constructed so as to extend up toward and into the cavity normally formed at the bottom forepart portion of a lasted upper.

The lasting allowance of the upper is roughed and coated with pyroxylin cement which may be allowed to dry, and the usual steel shank piece may be fastened to the bottom of the lasted upper.

The upper and outsole are then ready for cement attachment, which may be effected in any suitable form of sole affixing press. The dried adhesive on the upper lasting allowance and on the fabric strip I3 is activated by application of a suitable solvent or additional cement just prior to the sole pressing and aflixing operation, or if desired, cement may be placed between these parts for the first time just before such operation.

Where the welting does not extend around the heel, the latter may be nailed or otherwise fastened after the cement afiixing operation, and the remaining trimming, burnishing, heeling and like operations may be carried on in the usual manner in order to complete the shoe.

In Fig. 7, another form of welt unit is shown. Here the welt is slit at l2 and the fabric strip I3 is stitched to the under flap only. The upper flap of the welt may then be layed against the outer margin of strip I3 by means of adhesive, and the outer portion of the welt is then stitched to an outsole by means of stitching I M which need not pass through the fabric strip.

In Fig. 8, the fabric strip is shown as being fastened in the welt slit by means of through and through stitches 2 I4 passing through both flaps of the slit welt, and in Fig. 9 the fabric is shown fastened in the slit l2 by means of permanent pyroxylin cement. In all of these forms, the welt unit is assembled with the outsole to form a shoe bottom which is later stuck to a lasted upper substantially in accordance with the procedure described in connection with the first form.

It will be seen that in accordance with the described procedure and construction, any form of outsole including loose fibered belly leathers, composition soles, rubber soles, etc., can be cement attached to an upper since the sole itself is attached by stitching to a welt which in turn has firmly anchored to it a cementable fastening strip. In the preferred practice of the present invention the welting, the strip and the outsole are all adapted conveniently and readily to be assembled and held together in a single stitching operation, and it will be seen that the advantages of this preferred operation can be obtained by first temporarily assembling the fabric strip to the welt with rubber cement or the like either in the slit I2 or along either surface of the welt, if it is desired to dispense with such slitting operation.

Since certain changes in carrying out the above process, and certain modifications in the article which embody the invention may be made without departing from its scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, andall statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A method of making shoes which comprises, lasting an upper in fiat overlying relation against an insole, applying a filler to the shoe bottom between the overlasted edges of said upper, forming a welt unit by temporarily adhesively attaching a fabric fastening strip to a welt, permanently stitching said unit along the margin of an outsole with stitches passing through both the welt and strip and with said strip extending inwardly over said outsole, positioning a filler piece Within said welt and beneath said strip to hold the latter up to the upper level of the welt, applying adhesive between said fabric strip and the bottom of said lasted upper, and pressing said outsole against said lasted upper, to adhere said strip thereto.

2. A method of attaching an outsole to a lasted upper, which comprises, slitting a welt, stitching a fabric fastening strip in said slit, stitching said welt along the margin of the outsole, applying cement between said strip and the bottom of the lasted upper, and pressing said outsole against the upper to adhere said strip thereto.

3. A shoe bottom unit adapted for cement attachment to a lasted upper, comprising, an outsole, a welt fastened along the margin of said outsole and having a slit extending from its inner toward its outer edge, a fabric fastening strip having its outer margin fastened in said slit and having its remaining portion extending inwardly over said outsole to provide an upwardly facing cementing surface, and a filler piece positioned on said outsole within said welt and adhesively attached to the under side of the said strip, said filler piece being of suflicient thickness to support said cementing surface at a height at least equal to that of the upper face of the welt.

4. A method of attaching an outsole to a lasted upper, which comprises slitting a welt, stitching a fabric fastening strip in said slit to one flap only of said slit welt, attaching said welt along the margin of the outsole, applying cement between said strip and the bottom of the lasted upper, and pressing said outsole against said upper to adhere said strip thereto.

5. A method of attaching an outsole to a lasted upper, which comprises, slitting a welt, stitching a fabric fastening strip in said slit to the under flap only of said slit welt, adhesively laying the upper flap of said welt against the .outer margin of said strip, stitching said welt along the margin of the outsole, applying cement between said strip and the bottom of the lasted upper, and pressing said outsole against said upper to adhere said strip thereto.

FRIEDRICH HOLLAND. 

